France, Germany Mark 50th Anniversary of Elysee Treaty

French President Francois Hollande (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo by EPA/BGNES

France and Germany are marking Tuesday the 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty that helped to reconcile the two former enemies.

French President Francois Hollande told a joint session of their parliaments in Berlin that a generation had grown up knowing only peace and democracy. However, he warned that they faced "an economic and social crisis of unprecedented duration".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the two states would work on deeper economic and fiscal integration, BBC informs.

Eighteen years after the end of World War II, then French president Charles de Gaulle and West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer formalised on January 22 1963 the cooperation that has since been a building block of European unity.

The two countries have recently differed over the austerity/growth debate inside the eurozone.

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